As Big East finality draws closer, Tigers say they'll pursue new league tournaments

In this Dec. 15, 2012, file photo, a Big East Conference logo is displayed on the court after Georgetown played Western Carolina in an NCAA college basketball game at the Verizon Center in Washington. Big East football schools will get almost all of a $110 million pot in a deal that will allow seven departing basketball schools to keep the name Big East and start playing in their own conference next season, a person familiar with the negotiations says. The basketball schools, which include Georgetown, St. John's, Villanova, Seton Hall, Providence, Marquette and DePaul, will receive $10 million, keep the conference name and the right to play their conference tournament at Madison Square Garden.

The University of Memphis still doesn’t know the name of the athletic conference it’s joining in three and a half months. But it hopes to have some familiarity with where it’ll be playing its postseason basketball tournament a year from now.

Athletic director Tom Bowen said Friday that the Tigers will pursue hosting the 2014 men’s and women’s basketball tournaments for the yet-to-be-named conference that it’s joining on July 1. That’s little surprise, of course, and a Memphis bid including FedExForum would figure to have a solid shot at hosting the event.

Bowen said this on the occasion of another step of news in the ongoing 13-month saga of the Tigers joining a conference that in many ways has crumbled around them — yet remains a step up from the next iteration of Conference USA. This step had some finality: Big East commissioner Mike Aresco issued a statement Friday morning saying the seven breakaway Catholic schools have reached a “mutually beneficial separation” with the remaining Big East schools and those like Memphis that are joining in the future.

The seven Catholic schools will take the Big East name with them when they form a league this summer. Memphis will join the remaining current Big East schools in a league that has yet to be named.

As for the basketball tournament, “all of those things will be decided in order,” said Bowen, nodding toward what he called a “very involved and complicated uncoupling” of the schools, which still needs to be approved by the league’s presidents.

ESPN.com reported Thursday that “America 12” was the front-runner for the league’s new name, but Bowen dismissed that Friday. “There has been no discussion on names,” he said.

In a statement, Aresco said the naming process continues and there are “no favorites.”

Hosting a conference tournament would be nothing new for Memphis, which since 1930 has hosted 14 league tournaments — over the span of four different leagues and four different buildings. The Tigers hosted the Conference USA tournament from 2005 to 2009 and again in 2012.

Aresco told The Associated Press that a decision on tournament venues and the invitation of a 12th member are next on the league’s agenda.

“We stand ready and willing to do whatever (the U of M needs to do to pursue the tournaments),” Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO Kevin Kane said. “We think Memphis would be a great location.”

The Tigers’ entry into the Big East comes with financial implications, too. The school placed $1.7 million in escrow last year for future use in settling Conference USA exit fees, though the final total remains in flux. Memphis was able to apply past NCAA basketball tournament payouts to its C-USA bill to reach that total and may be able to use this year’s credits, too.

Financial help could be coming from the new league, though. The Associated Press reported earlier this week that the remaining schools will receive between $100 million and $110 million in a pool of exit fees, entry fees and NCAA basketball tournament payouts. The AP cited a source saying that much of the money will go to Cincinnati, Connecticut and South Florida, the remaining members.

Aresco told the AP that the league hasn’t determined how it will split the money. Bowen said he didn’t think the issue had “even been discussed.”

Bowen stressed that the move to the new conference remains a positive to the Tigers, even if it wasn’t what supporters envisioned when the invitation was accepted 13 months ago.

“For us here at the University of Memphis, this is still a very strong, wonderful opportunity and a great adventure to be part of something moving forward,” Bowen said. “ ... It will be a good, solid, new beginning for us as we continue to build this athletic department to national prominence.”